A 240-count indictment against 32 member of the BullyBoys and CoCo Boys street gangs in California were levied for a variety of cybercrimes, including stealing retail point of sale terminals to obtain customer personally identifiable information.
The charges were brought by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and include 63 counts of conspiracy to commit grand theft; 54 counts of hacking, computer access and fraud; 56 counts of grand theft; 59 counts of burglary; and eight counts of identity theft, Becerra’s office stated. The gangs used the 40 stolen point of sale devices, taken from medical and dental offices, which were used for a variety of illegal activities, including fraudulent returns and obtaining Social Security numbers and bank information.
The two gangs primarily operated in the Antioch, Pittsburg, and Bay Point areas, but the three-year investigation showed their activity ranged across 13 Northern California counties.
“The gang members worked together to burglarize businesses in order to steal credit card terminals. The perpetrators used the stolen terminals to process returns. But instead of the value of the returns going to the business or to the customer, it was placed onto a debit card that the perpetrators pocketed,” Becerra said.
